Body waste fluids that are drained or drawn from a hospital patient are collected in an operating room or bedside fluid vessel, generally either a rigid-walled canister or a soft-walled plastic fluid vessel that is set into a receptacle mounted to a vacuum machine. Both types of vessels are provided with a lid which has an inlet patient port in turn connected to the patient by a patient line and further has a vacuum port connected to a vacuum machine by a vacuum line. The lid also has a drain port from which the body waste fluids are poured at a designated disposal area in the hospital before disposal of the vessel itself.
When a vessel is carried or otherwise moved from the bedside of the patient, it must be carefully handled because the body waste fluids often contain infectious organisms that are not to come into contact with humans. In addition, the body waste fluids are commonly later emptied from the canister by pouring the contents down a toilet bowl or sink. At the time of pouring, if the waste body fluids hit a hard surface, for example, the side of a toilet bowl, the fluids can aerosolize into the atmosphere and be inhaled by personnel. Another method of disposal of vessels is to carry them to designated disposal areas; any accident during handling of the vessel could result in spilling onto and contamination of the clothing or hands of personnel.